SSS Awakening : I can Adapt to Everything

Chapter 186: Twin Evolution (II)

The Ufrifan desert was completely illuminated by the catastrophic clash of two warring beasts.

High above, Drogon roared, his serpentine body weaving through the bruised-purple storm clouds. A colossal, dark-violet lightning bolt tore through the sky, striking the Grey Scaler directly in its chest. The explosion of ozone and static electricity was blinding, but as the smoke cleared, the towering, fifteen-foot ice monster simply laughed.

"Mere sparks!" the Grey Scaler bellowed, its demonic, wolf-like skull snapping upward. The B-Rank Calamity Lord brushed the scorched ice from its chest. Drogon was majestic, but he was still bound by the limitations of a C-Rank anchor. His lightning simply lacked the density to pierce a B-Rank.

The ice monster lunged forward, the vitrified glass beneath its feet shattering under its immense weight. It raised its talons, summoning a massive, jagged glacier of black ice, and hurled it directly at Hide’s paralyzed body.

The Doom Overseer , the thirty-foot-tall psychic behemoth lowered its heavy head, its emerald eyes flaring with intense power. A thick, invisible wall of pure mana erected itself in front of them. The glacier smashed into the psychic barrier, exploding into a million harmless, freezing shards. But while the Doom Overseer possessed an impregnable defense and unmatched utility, the A-Rank phantom had no upfront, offensive combat skills to put the beast down. It was a stalemate, and the Grey Scaler knew it.

"You can shield him, but you cannot kill me!" the ice beast mocked, preparing to summon an entire barrage of frozen lances.

But down on the scorched glass, the violent, burning agony inside Hide’s chest suddenly vanished.

The catastrophic cellular restructuring was over. The suffocating paralysis broke, replaced instantly by a terrifying, boundless reservoir of power. Hide sucked in a sharp, ragged breath, his lungs expanding as he felt the profound, chilling clarity of his new reality.

Hide slowly pushed himself off the ground and sat up straight. His glowing blue eyes, now burning with a much deeper, richer violet hue, locked onto the laughing ice monster.

"Aegis," Hide commanded, his voice cold and raspy. "Zenith."

The dark mana violently erupted from Hide’s newly evolved core, flooding the desert floor. Before the Grey Scaler could even release its ice lances, the space directly in front of the beast warped. The colossal, heavy-iron form of Aegis dropped from the sky like a meteor, landing squarely in the monster’s path. Aegis raised its massive, dark-plated gauntlets, acting as an immovable, physical wall against the towering beast.

"Out of my way, trash!" the Grey Scaler roared, swinging a massive, ice-coated fist directly into Aegis’s guard.

BOOM! The shockwave rattled the desert, pushing Aegis back a few inches, but the heavy tank phantom successfully absorbed the impact, locking the B-Rank beast in place for exactly one second.

It was all the time Zenith needed.

Using Phantom Step, the executioner dissolved into a blur of shadowy mist, completely bypassing physical space. Zenith materialized directly behind the Grey Scaler, suspended mid-air. The phantom didn’t bother swinging its greatsword. Instead, Zenith thrust its razor-sharp, dark-plated hand straight forward, driving its arm with supersonic velocity directly through the beast’s spinal column and deep into its frozen chest cavity.

The Grey Scaler’s demonic eyes widened in shock as Zenith’s talons clamped firmly around the pulsing, freezing core hidden within its ribs.

With a brutal, merciless flex of its fingers, Zenith crushed the core into dust.

The Calamity Lord let out a hollow, agonizing shriek. The corrupted mana holding its fifteen-foot body together instantly failed. The massive creature froze entirely, turning into a solid, lifeless statue of black ice for a fraction of a second, before completely shattering into millions of tiny, harmless ice crystals that rained down across the desert floor.

Hide let out a long, heavy sigh, resting his forearms on his knees as he sat on the glass. A series of system windows instantly bloomed in his vision, illuminating his exhausted face.

[Evolution Complete]

[Class Rank Increased: (C-Rank → B-Rank)]

[25 Unallocated Stat Points awarded.]

[Evolution points awarded.]

Hide nodded slowly, dismissing the first window, only to be immediately greeted by the kill notification he had been waiting for.

[First Phantom ’Zenith’ has eliminated a Calamity Beast (Grey Scaler)] Experience points gained: 32,500

The volume of experience points flooded his newly expanded core, triggering the Universal Adaptation System into another rapid sequence of level-ups.

[Level Up]

Level: 61 → 62

Exp: 28280 / 12800

Level Up reward has been added to inventory.

[Level Up]

Level: 62 → 63

Exp: 15480 / 13000

Level Up reward has been added to inventory.

[Level Up]

Level: 63 → 64

Exp: 2480 / 13200

Level Up reward has been added to inventory.

[Phantom Soldier ’Zenith’ has Leveled Up!]

Level 20 → 21

[Phantom Soldier ’Zenith’ has Leveled Up!]

Level 21 → 22

"..." Hide saw as more windows appeared. Making Zenith reach level 26.

[Phantom Soldier ’Zenith’ has Leveled Up!]

Level 25 → 26

Hide cracked his neck. But before he could even check his new stats, a sudden, violent shift in the ambient mana pulled his attention away.

It wasn’t coming from the dead beast. It was coming from Zenith.

Standing amidst the shattered ice, Zenith’s physical form suddenly lost all cohesion. The towering phantom crumbled, instantly dissolving into a chaotic, violently swirling vortex of thick, dark mist. At the absolute center of the smoky cyclone, the C-Rank anchor that acted as Zenith’s core began to glow with a blinding, corrupted violet light.

Hide watched in awe as the anchor physically expanded, gorging itself on the residual dark mana in the atmosphere.

[First Phantom ’Zenith’ has reached the threshold.]

[Phantom Evolution Initiated: C-Rank → B-Rank]

The dark mist forcefully converged onto the glowing anchor, but it didn’t reassemble into the sleek, four-meter-tall executioner Hide was familiar with. It grew.

When the smoke finally dissipated, a terrifying new entity stood in front of him. Zenith was now a towering behemoth, easily standing over seven meter tall. His armor had completely mutated into a menacing array of jagged, overlapping dark-steel plates that looked practically indestructible. From his broad, spiked shoulders hung a tattered, flowing cloak woven entirely from pure abyssal darkness, drifting unnaturally in the wind. His gauntlets were heavier, tipped with elongated, razor-sharp talons, and his featureless helm was now split by a single, burning, cross-shaped violet visor that radiated unadulterated killing intent.

He didn’t just look like a soldier anymore. He looked like an apocalyptic warlord. He was frightening.

Hide sat perfectly still, staring up at the newly evolved B-Rank phantom.

Then, the towering dark knight took a single, heavy step forward. The metal plates of his armor clanked ominously in the quiet desert. Zenith smoothly lowered his massive frame, planting one knee firmly against the scorched glass. He planted his greatsword into the ground and bowed his terrifying, horned helm perfectly toward Hide.

The air around them vibrated, and a voice—deep, metallic, and echoing with the hollow resonance of the abyss, spoke aloud in the physical world.

"I am in your service, my Liege."

Hide’s breath hitched in his throat. His glowing blue eyes widened in unmasked astonishment. The system hadn’t just made his phantom stronger. It had given him a voice.